1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to connectors. More specifically, the present invention relates to a connector with an overmolded lead frame that includes a web between adjacent contacts.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known connector 100 is shown in FIG. 1. The connector 100 includes a housing 101 that surrounds contacts 102 that transmit electrical signals. A portion of the housing 101 in FIG. 1 is cut away to show the bottom row 115 of contacts 102. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the connector 100 is typically mounted to a printed circuit board (PCB). The PCB includes traces that transmit electrical signals. The housing 101 includes an opening 103 into which, for example, an edgecard can be inserted. The edgecard includes pads that engage with the beams 102a of the contacts 102. The beams 102a deflect as the edgecard is inserted into the housing 101, creating a mechanical and electrical connection between the contacts 102 and pads. An edgecard to be used with the connector shown in FIG. 1 will typically include pads on the top and bottom surfaces that engage with the top row 110 of contacts 102 (not shown in FIG. 1) and with the bottom row 115 of contacts 102. The contacts 102 in the connector 100 provide an electrical path between the pads of the edgecard and the traces in the PCB.
FIG. 7 shows the contacts 102 from the bottom row 115 of the connector 100 shown in FIG. 1. The contacts 102 in FIG. 7 are in an open-pin-field arrangement in that the contacts 102 can be assigned different functions, including, for example, as signal contacts, i.e., a single contact for single-ended signals or a pair of contacts for differential signals, or as ground contacts, i.e., contacts connected to ground. In high-speed applications, adjacent contacts 102 can be paired together to transmit a differential signal. The adjacent differential pairs of contacts 106 can be separated by a ground contact 107. The shape of the contacts 102 in FIG. 7 is determined by mechanical considerations and not by signal integrity considerations.
As electrical signals are transmitted between the pads of the edgecard and the traces in the PCB, the electrical signals may experience degradation in signal integrity due to the changing transmission line impedance along the signal path. As shown in FIG. 2, the connector 100 includes an insulating, dielectric plastic wall 104 between adjacent contacts 102 to avoid shorting of adjacent contacts 102. The dielectric properties of the plastic may be chosen to reduce the potential impedance mismatch along the length of the contact beam 102a. 
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, additional space between the walls 104 and the contacts 102 is needed for positional tolerances, i.e. so the contact 102 does not bind against the wall 104 when it deflects to mate to an edge card. This additional space results in a wider air gap 105 between the contact beams 102a and the walls 104. The wider air gap 105 between the contacts 102 and the walls 104 limits the ability to impedance match the transmission line.
As shown in FIG. 2, there is no structure that deflects with the contacts 102 as the contact beams 102a are deflected. The tips 102b of adjacent contact beams 102a can spread wider apart or come closer together during deflection, which can change the impedance of the transmission line formed by the contact beams 102a. 
High-speed connectors often include ground planes to separate the signal paths and to electrically connect the individual ground contacts 107 together. FIG. 5 shows the high-speed connector 100 in which adjacent signal contacts 102 are surrounded by ground contacts 107. The adjacent signal contacts 102 can be grouped in a differential pair 106 that transmits differential signals.
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the connector 100 that shows the top 110 and bottom 115 rows of contacts 102. The contacts 102 of both the top 110 and bottom 115 rows include a 90° bend and a portion that extends from the 90° bend downward towards a PCB (not shown). The contacts 102 of the top 110 and bottom 115 rows can be surface mounted to the PCB, which creates mechanical and electrical connections to pads on the PCB. The pads of the PCB are connected to the traces in the PCB. The contacts 102 of the top row 110 of contacts extend out and over the contacts 102 of the bottom row 115 of contacts.